Wesley Cheney found guilty after decades of sexual abuse
information released
A Chelan man who has been sexually abusing children for more than four decades will spend the rest of his life in prison. On Friday, Chelan County Superior Court Judge Travis Brandt sentenced Wesley A. Cheney, 76, to 714 months, or 59 ½ years, in prison after being found guilty of 13 felony sex offenses. The sentence follows the recommendation of the Chelan County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, including that Cheney serve the sentence for each survivor consecutively because of the nature of the crimes and number of people he harmed. The standard sentencing range for the crimes Cheney committed is 240 to 318 months.
“We will never truly know the full extent of Mr. Cheney’s crimes or the number of children he hurt,” said Micaela Meadows, Chelan County deputy prosecuting attorney. “We do know he will spend the rest of his life in prison.”
On Sept. 16, a jury found Cheney guilty of 13 counts of felony sex offenses:
- One count rape in the second degree (victim under 15 years old)
- One count rape of a child in the first degree
- Four counts of unlawful imprisonment
- Two counts of indecent liberties (victim under 15 years old)
- Four counts of child molestation in the first degree
- One count of sexual exploitation of a minor
Several of the counts included special allegations that the crimes were committed under a position of trust and that Cheney showed an ongoing pattern of sexual abuse. Both can contribute to the severity of a sentence.
In April 2022, Cheney was arrested after one of his several victims reported him to law enforcement. She recounted at trial that Cheney had sexually abused her “for as long as she could remember” until she was 11 years old.
After the survivor came forward, five others disclosed they were sexually abused by Cheney. The prosecutor’s office was able to proceed with charges for a total of three survivors. Five survivors testified at trial of Cheney’s prolific abuse that had been going on for generations. All survivors were known to Cheney.
Most of the survivors didn’t tell anyone of the abuse they endured until they were adults, which is not uncommon in such traumas, Meadows said. Abusers hold power over their victims during the time of abuse, and that power can persist even after the abuse has stopped, she explained.
Meadows went on to explain that there are many reasons survivors don’t report what has happened to them and most boil down to fear: fear of what their abuser will do to them or their loved ones, fear they won’t be believed, fear of what might happen to their families and fear of what others will think of them.
“The first survivor to report did an incredible thing by telling police of the abuse,” Meadows said. “She not only effectively prevented the defendant from victimizing others in the future, but she also empowered others to come forward. One voice is powerful, but five voices is a force that is impossible to ignore.”
The five people who spoke at sentencing talked of the impacts of the abuse on their lives and relationships. They spoke of night terrors, memory loss, emotional distress, addictions, a distrust of other people, and other hardships. They also spoke of moving forward with their lives and not letting the abuse define them.
“Tomorrow is my five months clean and sober,” one survivor said in court. “And I am finally getting what I deserve – safety and justice.”
Chelan County values the privacy of victims who have experienced traumatic events. The County does not identify victims unless they choose to be identified. It is our hope that outside agencies recognize the trauma victims experience and also pledge to not release information that identifies them in public communications or reporting. Information that identifies a victim includes, but is not limited to, name, current age, age when the crime was committed, gender, hometown, the relationship to the offender and where they attend school. The Chelan County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office provides no further comment on this case.
